Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize scientific discovery, accelerate research processes, foster innovation, and increase researchers’ productivity.

The EU should prioritize AI research in areas rich in data but hard to interpret, such as personalized medicine, social cohesion, and the green and digital transitions. These areas would bring the greatest benefit to EU citizens.

Supporting new research into the most environmentally friendly AI algorithms and infrastructures is essential to help manage the technology’s impact on the environment.

AI-powered science relies on massive data. This data must be high-quality, responsibly collected, carefully managed, and fairly accessible to European researchers and innovators. The EU should therefore continue working with the research community to ensure that data standards, guidelines, and best practices evolve alongside technological progress.

Artificial intelligence has become a geopolitical asset. Access to talent and computing capacity determines which regions of the world can harness AI and which fall behind. Currently, most AI infrastructure is controlled by a handful of companies, primarily in the US and China. Even public research labs rely on these firms for computing power. The opacity of the commercial AI sector makes it difficult to achieve transparent, reproducible scientific results—essential for robust science in open societies.

To rebalance this situation and promote public research across all disciplines and Member States, universities and research institutions across Europe must have fair access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure. A new European Institute for AI in Science will provide powerful high-performance computing, sustainable cloud infrastructure, and AI training programs for scientists. In addition to these services, the European Scientific AI Council will offer dedicated funding for researchers in all disciplines to explore and apply AI. These efforts will also ensure that AI research aligns with core EU values.

The EU must provide a competitive and attractive AI research environment, offering opportunities to tackle high-impact societal challenges, a motivating work atmosphere, and a high quality of life.

Finally, future technologies must be driven by people and communities—not just by profit. The EU should promote research into the philosophical, legal, and ethical issues surrounding AI in science, and their implications for fundamental rights, transparency, and accountability. This must not become a bureaucratic burden but rather an intellectual incentive. Broad AI literacy will not only allow everyone to benefit from this technology but also strengthen Europe’s research future by attracting and retaining the best talent.